River City Casino gets green light
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
February 24, 2010
by Tim Logan
State regulators gave their stamp of approval to the new River City Casino, set to open next week in south St. Louis County.
The Missouri Gaming Commission this morning met in Clayton and voted unanimously to issue a license to the new $375 million facility, which will be the seventh casino in the St. Louis region and 13th in Missouri.
River City's owner, Pinnacle Entertainment, has said it plans to open River City on Thursday, March 4, after a couple of day s of dry-run testing next week. It'll employ about 1,200 people when it's open, and completes the redevelopment of the long-empty National Lead site just south of the mouth of the River Des Peres.
St. Louis County officials were on hand Wednesday morning, and stressed the importance of the project to Lemay and surrounding areas in south St. Louis County.
"It's hard to imagine the transformation that's occurred," said Denny Coleman, president of the St. Louis County Economic Council. "It was contaminated. It was in a floodplain. And there was no way to get to it. But Pinnacle made it a great site."
The County owns the land, and Pinnacle will pay it $4 million a year in rent. For the first five years, three quarters of that money will be used to fund community development programs in the Lemay area. The county will also get money from admissions taxes, and the state will take a 21 percent cut of gaming revenues.
Pinnacle, which owns Lumiere Place and the President in downtown St. Louis, said it expects River City to do about $17 million in gaming revenue in its first year, which would make the casino the third-busiest in the St. Louis region.
Two critics of the casino spoke up, noting that all that money will come out of the pockets of St. Louisans, and arguing that the region won't get back in taxes what it sends out to the Las Vegas-based gaming company.
Two other hot local casino issues hung over the Gaming Commission meeting, but never came up in public discussion. Dozens of opponents of a proposed $350 million casino in north St. Louis County showed up, hoping to make their voices heard. They could not get a spot on the agenda, but Gaming Commission chairman James Mathewson promised a full public hearing in St. Louis County if and when the Commission considers issuing a license there. Right now, it does not have a license to give.
That could change, depending on the fate of the President Casino, the other big issue hanging over the meeting. Last month, Commissioners voted to strip the ailing riverboat's license for its weak performance, effective July 1. On Friday, Pinnacle requested a hearing on that decision, arguing that the Commission renewed the President's license in late 2008 and was overstepping its legal authority trying to take that license now. That hearing could take place in April or May, attorneys for Pinnacle said. But the matter was never raised during this morning's meeting, and Executive Director Gene McNary declined to comment about it afterward.
